Plugins allow extra features to be added to browsers. For example, you can watch certain types of videos or play a game that’s on a webpage.

NPAPI support has ended

In the past, many plugins were developed using an older system called NPAPI. Today fewer sites are using NPAPI plugins and they can sometimes cause security risks on websites.

To make browsing with Chrome safer, faster, and more stable, we’re ending support for NPAPI pluginswith Chrome version 42.

Which plugins are supported

Plugins that use a newer, more secure system called Pepper API (PPAPI) will continue to work, including those that come with Chrome, like Adobe Flash and PDF Viewer. If Flash or PDF doesn’t automatically load, make sure that you have the PPAPI plugin version enabled in Chrome.

Plugins that use NPAPI, including Silverlight, Java, and Unity, won’t work

How to enable PPAPI plugins

1. Open Chrome.
2. In the address bar at the top, type chrome://plugins and press Enter.
3. Click Details.
4. Scroll down to "Adobe Flash Player."
5. Under "Type: PPAPI," click Enable.

How to temporarily enable NPAPI plugins

If you must use a NPAPI plugin, there’s a temporary workaround that will work until Chrome version 45 is released later in 2015:

1. Open Chrome.
2. In the address bar at the top of the screen, type chrome://flags/#enable-npapi
3. In the window that opens, click the link that says Enable under the Enable NPAPI flag.
4. In the bottom left corner of the page, click the Relaunch Now button.

After the release of Chrome version 45, you’ll need to use an alternate web browser to load content that requires a NPAPI plugin.